Exposed

North West Infidels protester Adam Owen jailed after Dover Riots in January.

A masked and hooded member of the North Wales Infidels has been jailed for his part in the Dover Riots in January.

Adam Owen, 25, from Anglesey had travelled to Kent in a mini bus with six friends to join a right-wing march from Dover Priory Station to the docks.

But Canterbury Crown Court heard how Owen and other had then broken through police lines and into the ground of Dover College in an effort to confront rival left-wing demonstrators.

Prosecutor Don Ramble said: “He is seen by police officers throwing a missile towards the left-wing protesters before pushing against police lines.

“He was also seen making multiple hand gestures towards a police official who was videoing events.”

After his arrest, he was asked if he wanted a duty solicitor but replied: “Nah, I’ve don’t need one. I’ve done what I’ve done. I hold my hands up to it.”

Owen told officers that he was demonstrating with others who were opposed to immigration when he confronted “lefties who were let them in sort of people.”

He added that during the incidents one of his friends was injured by a brick and he had gone to hospital with his pal.

Mr Randall said Owen , who had attended three previous demonstrations, said he had been a member of the North Wales Infidels, an anti-immigration group “who wanted to protect their streets, people and laws”.

The father-of-one added he had now quit the group because of what he had seen during the riots and regretted going against the wishes of his family in travelling to Dover.

Judge James O’Mahony jailed him for six months after he pleaded guilty to violent disorder.

He told him: “This case, as far as I am concerned, is not about politics. The demonstration may have been about political views, but this is about law and order and obeying the law.

“There may have been real tension and everyone is entitled to free speech and to peacefully demonstrate. But there is no need to wear face masks if that was the intention.

“You broke the law and this was a very ugly and dangerous incident.”

He is one of a score of protesters from both sides to be jailed after the most violent of protests in Dover on Saturday, January 30. Others include Unite the union organiser Michelle Smith and Shaun James, who apologised from his prison cell to the people of Dover for the disruption he helped cause.